High early voting numbers prompt Tarrant County to consider adding more sites
Tarrant County election officials are looking to add eight more voting sites for the last two days of early voting after a strong turnout during the first week.
During the first five days of early voting, 222,354 people cast ballots, which represents almost 19% of the county’s registered voters. That is up from the 211,000 who voted during the first five days in 2016. Early voting started Oct. 13 and runs through Oct. 30.
Heider Garcia, Tarrant County elections administrator, said he will seek approval from the Tarrant County commissioners on Tuesday to open the additional sites on Oct. 29 and 30, the last two days of early voting, which are traditionally the busiest days during the period.
Garcia believes that the county will have a higher early voting turnout this election than it did in 2016, when the county recorded 482,000 early voters. As of Monday afternoon, 261,185 had voted in Tarrant County.
The elections team has had this plan ready for the last couple of weeks and the voting numbers have told Garcia that it’s time to put it in place, he said.
“This is our break the glass in case of an emergency moment,” he said.
Wait times were up to four hours on the first day of early voting and only 16 voting centers were reporting wait times on the county’s new interactive map. The other 34 centers were displaying a message that read “no data available today.”
Garcia said long wait times are caused by a lot of people visiting one location. People should remember that there are 50 voting locations across the county that they can also visit, but if they go to a highly populated one, they will have to patiently wait.
Voters may visit elections.tarrantcounty.com for information on all 50 places in Tarrant County where early voting is taking place.
The interactive map now only shows six locations without the message that reads “no data available today.” Garcia said the fix was just to have poll workers communicate wait times more effectively to elections staff so it could be on the map.
Voting sites and hours
On Tuesday, Garcia will ask the Tarrant County Commissioners to approve these sites for Oct. 29 and 30:
Arlington ISD Dan Dipert Career and Technical Center at 2101 Browning Drive, Arlington
Airport Area YMCA at 3524 Central Dr., Bedford
Benbrook Community Center YMCA at 1899 Winscott Road, Benbrook
Everman City Hall Annex at 213 N. Race St., Everman
Destiny Center at 10200 FM 156, Fort Worth
East Regional Library at 6301 Bridge St., Fort Worth
Northpark YMCA at 9100 N. Beach St., Fort Worth
Mansfield I.S.D. Multi‐Purpose Complex at 3700 E Broad St., Mansfield
Early voting runs through Oct. 30. Hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Friday; 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday; 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday; and 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Oct. 26-30.
